1. He paces himself better. Early Wlad used to go all out on opponents to get the KO, a la the Mercer fight. Most of the time it worked, but after the Brewster fight, where Wlad gassed himself trying to take Brewster out and left himself vulnerable, he's been a hell of a lot more conservative. You can easily see the extent of the changes he made here by analysing the rematch.

2. He clinches a lot more. Older Wlad used to clinch, but to nowhere near the extent the modern one does, and he did it a lot less intelligently. Modern Wlad throws shots and if his opponent slips them he uses the already extended arms to clinch them up tightly and lean on them. Sometimes this has a positive effect for the opponent, as even if Wlad stuns them he doesn't follow up and they get a chance to rest and recover. Over the course of the fight though this wears out their legs and neutralises their offence.

3. He's improved his balance. Older Wlad used to flop about like Bambi, even when he wasn't hit solidly or even on the chin, and get knocked down by balance shots. Modern Wlad seems to keep his balance a lot better and as a result is more in a position to receive solid shots without such a dramatic effect. He's still vulnerable to the knockdown, but a lot less so.

4. He varies the speed, power and comitment of his jab. Older Wlad threw jabs full power every time, or so it seemed, and there were clear windows where you could get on his inside. Modern Wlad uses his left arm almost like a hypnotising snake, waving it, flicking it, parrying their own left hand, or shooting it into their face. It keeps his opponent guessing, and at arms length.

Those are a couple of the most visible changes I've seen in his style from the early days.

The biggest thing he's improved is the jab, its rapidity, weight, and angle have all improved. His defence is also much tighter and his footwork better. If Haye bludgeons forward as he claims Wlad will just go back and clinch, he'll soon tire him out and smash Haye's paper chin.

Wow, Eddie Chambers moved up from Cruiserweight? Pretty funny because I don't see a fight he has below 200 pounds. Thanks for letting us know this guarded secret!

He looks like a cruiser and should fight there,the shame is Cruiser is a joke of a weightclass for no reason two or three hws coming down and a few lhs coming up this is the new hottest division in boxing look at 168 5 years ago.

i think he punched himslef out against brewster and purrity. and with sanders i think he just got caught. sanders has sneaky fast powerful left hand and wlad wasnt ready for it.

old wlad was alot more exciting, looking for early KO's. he beat the dog crap out of mercer, jefferson, barrett, byrd, shufford, bostice, wolfgramm. since the brewster loss, hes more defensive, jabs more, paces himself more, clinches more.

Slowly Wlad has improved, it appears. In what way? What made him so suscepable to being koed in his earlier career?

Also if the WLad of now fought the corrie saunders of 2003/04, what would be the outcome?

he's improved the most mentally

he said he never felt like a boxer, but a super athlete in supreme condition who would box. he had fast hands and feet and power in both hands and that's pretty much what he'd use to win fights.

he spars much more today. he used to focus his entire camp almost solely on conditioning
now he's a boxer who is also supremely conditioned athlete, and not the other way around

he's much more economical. he used to impose his strength early on his opponents in fights to get respect
now that he's been in the ring for 50 fights he's realized that you don't need to be throwing the right hand and the hook all the time to get a man's respect when you have a jab like he does

he understands that the jab alone for six rounds will break a man down enough when you're 6'6" and 250, and talnted
and then you take the risks and get a man out of there. otherwise you're going to have trouble down the line in the fight if you cant detonate a guy early.
he's slowly learning how to implement the last part and take a guy out
that's really the final step for a HW like him